An interview with Niall

January 31, 2009

Where are you?Marina Riviera Nayarit, La Cruz, Banderas Bay, Mexico.How do you like Banderas Bay?Really cool. Seeing a Spanish lady, a kind of seahorse, and a thorny seahorse in Punta de Mita. The alligators (12’) roaming free in the jungle tour in paradise village.Do you want to be in Banderas Bay for a while?Yes, I want to go snorkeling in Punta de Mita again.Do you have friends here?Yes: Kyle (Double Play), Robin (Hipnautical), Timothy & Finn on Whisper.How’s the big trip so far?It’s good. It’s excellent. I like it.Are you learning some Spanish?Si!

What are you hoping to do in Mexico?Snorkel in a big coral reef, like you see in a magazine.What’s La Cruz like?It’s a nice little marina. The town is dirt roads and older houses and very nice. We met people at the bakery where we go almost every day. They are nice, they have a little bakery by the road, they cook the best chocolate doughnuts in the world. They have a two year old boy who is always happy and loves seeing us, when we have to go he says adios (goodbye my friends in Spanish) for about 40 minutes. We stay and reply to him because he is so cute.You saw fishermen recently.We were there for the blessing of the fleet. It’s a holiday for the patron saint in Bucerias. At the blessing of the fleet in La Cruz, there was a big mariachi band next to the big panga dock. The pangas were decorated with ribbons and balloons and other decorations.What do you miss about Bainbridge island?I miss my friends, and Gertrude, and Horse. I miss the old house and especially Sam, Julia, Jim and Tracey. And Jack and Stormy. They said they might visit us in Mexico sometime though.What do you want them do know about what you’re doing?That we’ve been seeing really cool things, wild seahorses and crocodiles, tropical birds, iguanas, sea turtles, and humpback whales 35’ away from our boat. We’ve seen blue footed boobies.

Tell me about school.We don’t do school books as much, just being here when you live here for a few years you learn a lot of things. I’m studying fish; tropical fish like we’re seeing. Did you know a coelacanth lived more than 85 million years ago, and they’re still alive (but rare) today? The seahorse I saw in Punta de Mita was the second biggest species in the world.

Is there anything you’re worried about?The only thing I worry about is not seeing my friends again. And tumbling the dinghy again.

Where do you want to go on the big trip?I want to go to the sea of cortez, central and south America, pacific ocean- maybe to Hawaii and Howland island (in the Pacific, lots of wrecks from WWII). People think Amelia Earhart landed on that island, but I think she landed on the water next to it.

Anything else you want to share?Not even 1% of kids get this experience to see this wildlife, swim with wild seahorses, all that cool stuff and to see a 12’ alligator maybe 20’ away and living on a boat and cruising all over mexico. From this view I think it’s pretty cool.Niall loves getting reader comments on his blog. Please take a look if you haven’t yet! http://adventuresontotem.blogspot.com.

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5 Responses to An interview with Niall

“Is there anything you’re worried about?The only thing I worry about is not seeing my friends again. And tumbling the dinghy again.”

I would certainly be worried about tumbling the dinghy again too! That sounds pretty scary to me.It sounds like you are having a fantastic time and the school that you are going to is the best in the world 🙂

Hi Totem!I was checking on your whereabouts. We looked for the seahorse in Punta de Mita, but didn’t find them. Where did you snorkel? We’re in Bahia de Navidad. I think you’ll really like it here. Are you still in La Cruz? Kamaya

Hello Totem crew! Loved your interview, Niall. We’re so impressed with your adventure and we love reading about it and seeing all the pictures. We miss you every single day, but we’re happy you get to have all of these amazing experiences. We will visit you for sure. Love, the Denlingers

We got a really cool video of a dolphin stampede and thought of you. It looks like it’s in Baja somewhere. Here, we have to watch out for buffalo stampedes, down there apparently dolphins are the problem. Watch out for angry dolphins!